Mountain Bike Strength Training Systems

Variety is overrated…

Our fitness culture has turned into an extension of the entertainment industry. Look around you and you’ll see indulgent training programs everywhere – it seems like keeping you entertained is more important than delivering consistent, noticable results.

The 3 Pillars of Training are Progression, Technical Mastery and Variety. Variety certainly has its place but as you can see it is not the only, nor the most important, training component. There is a saying in martial arts – don’t fear the man who has done 10,000 techniques 1 time; fear the man who has done 1 technique 10,000 times.

Variety in your program should be born out if the other 2 components. Every high level exercise has a progression that should lead into it. For example, if you want to do a 1 arm DB Snatch (one of the best MTB power training exercises around) you don’t just grab a dumbbell and go for it just because it looks cool.

Progressing into the exercise by doing things that get your core stronger, teach you the proper hip hinge technique and how to initiate movements with the lower body while finishing off with the upper body are all vital compenents to getting the most out of that exercise. Going through the progressions and developing technical mastery of each exercise on the way to the 1 Arm DB Snatch is where the variety in your program comes from.

Training is about acquiring and refining movement skills, not going through a random list of exercises that look cool and “kick your butt”. Enjoy the journey and look to develop the other 2 forgotten Pillars of Training on your quest to be the best mountain biker you can.

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Karmensays:

This post helps me recognize part of what I like about your Ultimate MTB program – by starting with the preliminary workout and moving through the workouts you are putting in the pieces necessary to perform the more involved and difficult exercises later on in the program. I really like that. It has helped me so far to identify and recruit proper muscles and patterns so I don’t do odd compensations to try to do another exercise before I am prepared for it. Your program rocks!
Karmen

Exactly! By teaching you basic movement lessons with “simple” exercises you can get more out of more complex exercises. Since most people have never had any sort of progression in their program it is an eye opening experience to see how they really move.

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